Edgar Allen Poe: Dan Brown

Don Bapst Dept: Much like his previous works, Don Bapst's fourth novel, published by a Winnipeg-based literary house, shines a light on the darkness that can reside in the human soul, according to Winnipeg Free Press. In The Hanged Man, he has created an original tarot deck of his own. At less than 200 pages, the novel is a quick read, although not an altogether satisfying one. A genre-crossing thriller/mystery/occult fantasy, it's much closer to Dan Brown than, say, Edgar Allen Poe and aCCORDING to popular belief, the tarot deck was created as a parlour game in 15th-century Europe. But what if the cards were always intended to be used as tools of divination? And what if it they could truly guide us and decide our fate? Known for his edgy material -- his Facebook page lists the infamous Marquis de Sade as an "interest" -- Bapst is an American-born immigrant to Eastern Canada who is clearly intrigued by the supernatural. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.